Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

Some days start very early on the International Space Station, often we have to do blood draws or take other samples before eating so we wake up around 06:00 to help our colleagues or take the samples ourselves. I prefer sticking myself because if I miss I can only blame myself, but a colleague helping with managing the tubes and other instruments is very helpful :syringe::blush:. Often the experiment protocol requires we store the samples immediately in our freezers. We have three on the Space Station and they conserve experiment samples at –80°C. They are called MELFI, after their very descriptive acronym: Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. They were made in France for ESA and just work really well for over a decade – which is incredible considering the constraints of making an extremely small freezer in space and only electricity to make it work. As the technology behind it is so maintenance-free it is used on Earth to minimise waste when transporting gas.

Parfois, les journées débutent TRÈS tôt dans l’ISS :tired_face::sleeping:, avec prise de sang :syringe: dès 6h… On est entraînés à les réaliser sur autrui… ou sur soi-même, c’est la technique que certains (dont moi) préfèrent (au moins si on se rate, l’ambiance reste bonne ;)). Pour conserver les échantillons jusqu’à la date du retour sur Terre, pas de panique : on a trois congélateurs (made in Europe) qui descendent allègrement vers les -80 degrés … Maintenant il ne reste plus qu’à se réveiller un peu plus.

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

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